My Nightmare

[SmartWombat]

Just curious, does anyone use those hand held storage/viewer devices that Epson and some other companies have out?

Yes, I have a Hyperdrive Space, and a Xs Drive II.
They are only storage, not viewing.
I use them to back up the cards while out in the field.

[gahspidy]

Yes, I have a Hyperdrive Space, and a Xs Drive II.
They are only storage, not viewing.
I use them to back up the cards while out in the field.

Thanks fx101 and Paul. I'm interested in one and would like to know more about what others are using and their experiences and needs with them. I'll start another thread as I don't want to turn this one around into something else

[SmartWombat]

Well it's all about storage and backups - albeit at a different point in the workflow.
I don't find the screen on these pocket devices large enough to be useful, I use my laptop to view images.

[fx101]

Well it's all about storage and backups - albeit at a different point in the workflow.
I don't find the screen on these pocket devices large enough to be useful, I use my laptop to view images.

And to top it off the colour is calibrated to some arbitrary gamma. That is, DON'T use it to gauge colour. I only use the screen to remember what I have stored on it.

[gahspidy]

And to top it off the colour is calibrated to some arbitrary gamma. That is, DON'T use it to gauge colour. I only use the screen to remember what I have stored on it.

I would not use the screen to gauge anything more than I would use my cameras screen for, which is basically the use of the histogram and some degree of determining sharpness.
The good thing is with some of the better screens such as the Epson (4" screen said to be very sharp) and the wolverine unit they allow you to view histogram and RAW file info and just basically being able to see everything done from the days shoot in such a portable device is pretty cool. It's main purpose is immediate back up, but the other features (as well as an FM radio, ability to view video, listen to music and all kinds of other stuff) are just an added bonus to make these a cool little gadget with lots of real funtionality.

[California L33]

As for Photo-John's problem- PJ, you should look into using a commercial data recovery service, not just data recovery software. A lot of these places have their own proprietary software and techniques and can get usable data off drives that have been submerged, run over, or burned.

For prevention, the price of hard drives has fallen enough that it's possible to keep a couple of external USB drives on hand for backup. The chances of having the computer fail, plus two external backup drives is unlikely. There is the problem of 'all your eggs in one basket' if you keep all your drives in one place.

Personally, I have two HDs, plus DVD backups I keep in an out building. There are a lot of issues with DVD longevity, but the out building is unheated/un-air conditioned, and I've never had one fail to read. I do regularly create new DVDs from the original source, though, as I figure it's just a matter of time. And I've only just recently started experimenting with digital cameras, which means I also have the negatives. I'm toying with the idea of using SD cards like film and never deleting images. They're far less expensive than a roll of film, so they may make a good solid state backup medium.

[PicBackMan]

For prevention, the price of hard drives has fallen enough that it's possible to keep a couple of external USB drives on hand for backup. The chances of having the computer fail, plus two external backup drives is unlikely. There is the problem of 'all your eggs in one basket' if you keep all your drives in one place.

I agree L33

All these drives or the storage mediums do not come with a definitive life spam. The worst part is we can't be certain about WHEN they can malfunction, it can be right now or it can be years later. So the best way to have keep your photos safe is to have them stored at different locations. So, if something happens to my photos stored in home computer I know i have them at my office as well as at a friend's place too.

[dinojeep]

Wow that is a nightmare.

[dl4449]

John has you looked at a Drobo FS? I moved all my photos,music and movies to a 3tb thunderbolt external and backup everything to the Drobo. The Drobo has 5 2tb drives and i can be setup to have 2 drives fail without losing any thing. If one or 2 does fail you can hot swap another one.
Drobo: Small Box | Big Storage

[yad99in]

I agree L33

All these drives or the storage mediums do not come with a definitive life spam. The worst part is we can't be certain about WHEN they can malfunction, it can be right now or it can be years later. So the best way to have keep your photos safe is to have them stored at different locations. So, if something happens to my photos stored in home computer I know i have them at my office as well as at a friend's place too.

The best way to keep your photos safe forever is to use cloud storage, It will cost you some extra $ but worth.

[SmartWombat]

The problem with cloud storage is will the company be in business as long as you are?

[Franglais]

I've started to keep mail messages on Cloud storage (in the mailbox). I now have a generous quota (at least 5GB) on all my mailboxes and I access them from multiple devices (PC, tablet, smartphone). Makes no sense putting the messages on a PC (unless I change mail suppliers).

At home the situation is similar. I have several PC's and tablets. The most important stuff (including JPG's) is on a NAS with RAID-1 (two disks duplicated) with a daily backup onto an external drive. Every month I swap the external drive with one in the cellar (5 floors below in another part of the building). Every year I take a special copy to a second location 500 miles away.

My less-important files (RAW) are kept on external drives with a backup copy in the cellar.

I have 100GB of cloud storage included with my Internet access but I don't use it. It's not big enough for my photo Library, it would take a month to upload the data plus I don't trust the Cloud anyway.

[PicBackMan]

I find cloud storage to be the most reliable destination to backup photos. Probably because we haven't heard of any issues with backing up photos and videos to any cloud storage. Best for an offsite backup.

I only see one limitation and i.e you have to have an internet connection to access stored photos and videos. Everything else is just perfect (it seems).

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[broomhaylie]

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